1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarizer, a method of manufacturing the same, and a flat panel display device including the polarizer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, portable flat panel display devices have begun to replace display apparatuses such as cathode ray tubes (CRT). These flat panel display devices include organic and inorganic light emitting display devices. These light emitting display devices have attracted much attention because they are self-luminous displays, and have a wide viewing angle, high contrast, and short response time. In addition, as compared with inorganic light emitting display devices, organic light emitting display devices that include an emitting layer formed of an organic material have higher luminance, lower driving voltage, shorter response time, and the ability to display a wider range of colors.
Flat panel display devices are usually portable and thus can be used outdoors. For this purpose, flat panel display devices are manufactured to be lightweight and thin. When using such a flat panel display device outdoors, the contrast and the visibility are reduced due to the reflection of external light (e.g., sunlight). This problem may be more serious in organic light emitting display devices due to the reflection of sunlight from a metal reflective layer therein.
To address this problem, a circular polarizing plate can be arranged on a surface of an organic light emitting display device. Such a circular polarizing plate typically includes a thin, linear polarizing plate with a metallic wire grid. However, the wire grid reflects external light due to its inherent metallic characteristic. Therefore, there is a limit to how much the contrast of an organic light emitting display device can be improved using such a grid.